Tech just isn’t for techies: IRL, Silicon Valley and life sized mechanical horse

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Did you know people are using Twitter to meet new people in real life? According to the New York Times Tweeters are posting open invitations to see who shows up.

“As I see it, you meet everyone you can because you never know what’s going to happen down the road,” Peter Shankman said. “Everyone you meet, everyone you talk to, you should be networking. You’re not necessarily looking for business, but if you have the opportunity to meet someone and say, ‘Hi,’ why wouldn’t you?”

Though some Tweeters warn that responding to open invitations can pose risks.

Julia Lynton-Boelte, a life coach from Vashon, Wash., showed up at a park in Oakland, Calif., after a Facebook friend she barely knew invited all her followers to come celebrate the completion of her most recent art project, a giant, heart-shaped pillow. “She wanted all her friends to show up and bring a pillow,” she said. “So I drove to the park with this pillow, which is an awkward thing to do, right? You can’t really play it off like, ‘Oh, I always bring my pillow to the park.’”

Ms. Lynton-Boelte soon realized the invitation wasn’t as open as it seemed. “I definitely was not expected at that party,” she said. Perhaps, she guessed, the artist just wanted to brag about her art project but felt more comfortable couching it in a faux invitation. “I had to make the best of a bad situation.”

Lots of bytes
Cities are trying to create their own Silicon Valleys, but is this a good thing? See what this new father said. Cinemas just got a little more high-tech. This is what traditional marketplaces can learn from Etsy. This is the very well coordinated Black Twitter campaigning for #Ferguson and #MikeBrown. Another study claiming that using Facebook too much can make you depressed. But Facebook is now everywhere thanks to their advertising campaign. Forget the #Applewatch, check out this alarm clock. Or how mobile phone developers are really focusing on the camera. A new app for dating women. A ski resort funded by crowdsourcing. If you break a leg, you could get an even better bionic one. Tech will not solve education. A life-sized mechanical horse!

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And just for kicks, check out the Lego Titanic. It’s quite possibly the biggest Lego kit ever sold.

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